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Words with the prefix pre-

pre- means “before”, from Latin.

17 examples of the prefix pre-

  1. previewpre- + viewview before release
  2. prepaypre- + paypay before receiving
  3. preheatpre- + heatheat before main use
  4. preschoolpre- + schoolbefore formal schooling begins
  5. presetpre- + setset in advance
  6. pretestpre- + testtest given before instruction
  7. prewarpre- + warexisting before the war
  8. prehistoricpre- + historicbefore recorded human history
  9. prejudgepre- + judgejudge before knowing facts
  10. precautionpre- + cautioncare taken beforehand
  11. precedepre- + cedego or come before
  12. predictpre- + dictsay what will happen before
  13. prematurepre- + maturehappening before proper time
  14. prerequisitepre- + requisitesomething required beforehand
  15. preemptpre- + empttake action before another can

Also: predate, prepare

How pre- works

The prefix 'pre-' attaches to nouns, verbs, and adjectives without changing the base word's part of speech, so 'heat' (verb) becomes 'preheat' (verb) and 'school' (noun) becomes 'preschool' (noun). Unlike prefixes such as 'in-', 'pre-' does not assimilate to the following consonant and is spelled uniformly as 'pre-' in all cases.

Watch out: Words like 'pretty,' 'press,' 'prefer,' and 'precious' look as though they begin with 'pre-' but actually derive from Latin roots in which 'pre' is not a separable prefix meaning 'before.'

To see prefixes combine with other parts, try the word dissector and root builder, or test yourself in the vocabulary quiz.

Other common prefixes

Questions people ask

What does the prefix pre- mean?

pre- means “before”. It comes from Latin. The prefix 'pre-' attaches to nouns, verbs, and adjectives without changing the base word's part of speech, so 'heat' (verb) becomes 'preheat' (verb) and 'school' (noun) becomes 'preschool' (noun). Unlike prefixes such as 'in-', 'pre-' does not assimilate to the following consonant and is spelled uniformly as 'pre-' in all cases.

What are some examples of words with the prefix pre-?

preview, prepay, preheat, preschool, preset, pretest, prewar, prehistoric. The full list of 17 examples, with what each one literally means, is above.

Which words look like they have the prefix pre- but don’t?

Words like 'pretty,' 'press,' 'prefer,' and 'precious' look as though they begin with 'pre-' but actually derive from Latin roots in which 'pre' is not a separable prefix meaning 'before.'

What is a prefix?

A prefix is a word part added to the front of a base word or root to change its meaning, like un- in unhappy or re- in rewrite. It does not usually change the part of speech.